His Boys
by jmaddox1815
Summary: Short drabble about Bobby's thoughts on his boys. Based on a line at the end of 5x01.


_**This is just a little drabble I hacked out because I'm suffering a bit of writer's block with my current multi-chaptered story. It's complete and there will not be sequels or an extension. Based on a quote at the end of 5x01.**_

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"Sam? I was awake. I know what I said back there. I just want you to know that… that was the demon talking. I ain't cutting you out, boy. Not ever."

Bobby felt Sam's eyes on him, measuring him, before the youngest Winchester sighed with relief. "Thanks, Bobby."

"You're welcome. I deserve a damn medal for this, but you're welcome."

Sam and Dean chuckled, waving slightly as they left the room. Bobby watched his boys go with a grin, despite the fact that he'd never walk again. That small fact, while it killed the hunter in him, paled in the light of his need to be there for the sons he'd never gotten to have.

Sam thought he was just being comforting. So did Dean. He wasn't stupid. He knew those boys better than their Daddy ever did. They didn't realize that they could burn the world to ground, and he'd never cut them out.

He'd never wanted children, not truly. After his own childhood, he could only imagine permanently screwing up any kid he came in contact with. Besides, after his wife died, all hope for a family died with her.

Then came John Winchester with Dean and Sam.

Dean, aging his soul too early and bearing too much responsibility for his age. Sam, scared and lost and hounded by his daddy to be faster, stronger, better, more like Dean. He knew John was trying to train them, to protect them, but he didn't realize what he was doing to those kids. So anytime Bobby got ahold of them, he tried to give them a taste of normal. He took Dean to toss a baseball around. He taught Sam how to ride a bike. Each boy had set chores, mealtimes, and bedtimes, appropriate for their age. Each boy had to finish their homework before they played or trained.

It surprised him how natural it seemed. It broke his heart whenever John packed them up for another trip, and it tore at his soul when Sammy had to be pried away because he didn't want to leave "Uncle Bobby's" house. Life never seemed better than when he had those boys.

Then came the falling out.

John and Dean came by just after Sam left for college, and, after a fifth of whiskey and some prodding, he got the full story out of John, including how that supposed father had told his son not to come back.

He lost it. He couldn't help himself. He knew Sammy was growing up and that the boy was hoping and praying to get out of the life. He wanted that for him. He wanted his boy to get as far away from hunting as he possibly could and never look back. But he always thought that, even though John wouldn't be happy about it, on some level the ex-Marine would understand. That was going to be his link. That was going to be how he made sure he kept a connection even though Sammy was out of the life. Instead, John lost his damned temper, he lost his temper when he found out, and it was years before he ever heard from Dean of Sam again.

Then came John's disappearance and that poor, demon-possessed child, Meg. He hated that an innocent died, and the trouble he had with the law afterwards was no picnic, but he couldn't look at anything that brought those boys back into his life as a bad thing.

It had been a few years now. Years of stress and worry and whiskey. Years of laughter and fun and joy. He wouldn't change a single second of it, except the parts that broke his boys' hearts, and they were his boys. John may have sired them, and John tried to do right by them, but it wasn't John who raised them. He did that, with a slew of other hunters who had permanent addresses.

They were his boys. They had been ever since a two-year old Sam toddled up his porch steps and latched onto his leg. They had been ever since a six-year old Dean lit up at being allowed to go watch cartoons instead of having to give Sammy a bath and put him to bed.

They were his boys, and it didn't matter if they turned the world to ash or wiped out the human race, he'd never cut them out.

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**_Please read and review._**


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